Today I partook in the glorious invention of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. It is quite possibly one of my favorites times of the year. Definitely better than a lot of national holidays. The beauty of the tournament is the combination of infinite possibility and drama happening simultaneously. 16 games in 2 days! It’s full of surprise and impossibility.

One of the most intriguing matchups of the day was UNC-Ashville (16) vs Syracuse (1). Obviously this is a tough matchup for the overall number 2 number 1 team in the tournament, but UNC-Ashville had their fair share of meetings with top tier teams during the season. Today they played a nearly perfect game. A few too many turnovers, and could have really used another scorer, but realistically, they played about of good of a basketball game as one could expect from a 16 seed.

Upsets are a big part of the tournament, and one of the reasons why its so exciting. A 5 pretty much always gets upset by a 12, and many double digit seeds have made it to the final four. While a number two team has been upset several times before in the tournament, a number one seed has never been upset, and has only trailed at the half 7 times in over 100 games.

So, as I was saying, UNC-Ashville was playing their hearts out and doing really well. Leading and the half by 3 (?) and then holding a slight lead for the majority of the second half. And then the refs got involved. Right before the end of the first half, the refs missed a super clear goaltending call that would have put UNC-Ashville up by 5 (?) at the half, and would have had the game tied, or down one, with a few seconds to go in the game.

Goal Tending Terrible Call via SB Nation

There was another bad call that cost them points, but I don’t remember what it was. A throw-in-no-call foul-ball-out-off-Syracuse was then returned to Syracuse. This certainly would have put the Bulldogs up by 2, but instead was returned to Syracuse. RAGE!

Throw-in-no-call-out-of-bounds via SB Nation

The last bad call that really ensured the Syracuse victory was one of the stupidest calls I’ve ever seen. On the front end of a one-and-one, a lane violation was called against the guy behind the three point line! The man in question left his position behind the 3-point line as the free throw was released and went un-impeded to the hoop and grabbed the errant free throw. But then the same idiot ref, I think it was the same at least, called a lane violation that put the shooter back on the line. Shooter makes the first, and then the second that seals the fate of UNC-Ashville.

Lane Violation Call via SB Nation

That should be the end of my rant for the day folks. We were robbed a moment in history because of a bad ref.

That is all. Final Score: Syracuse 72 – UNC Ashville 65

EDIT: It would appear that:

The player behind the shooter apparently cannot cross the free throw line before the ball hits the rim. Related: this is still never, ever called, and letting the play go would not have affected the play. Yes, he came down with the rebound. No, Syracuse had no shot at a rebound either way. – by Brian Floyd via SB Nation